Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday once again told the people to “dream big” in the backward and tribal-dominated Baran, some 250 km from Jaipur, in Rajasthan, which will go to polls in few months from now.

Addressing a crowd of over 1.5 lakh, Rahul said he wanted the “poorest to dream the biggest dreams”. Pointing to a group of women in the crowd, he said: “There those women should not just see aeroplanes in the sky but also be able to dream that one day their sons will be flying those planes. We (Congress) say the poorest should see the biggest dreams and not just be on the fringes, marginalised and helplessly watching the rich flying in aeroplanes and travelling in big cars. That is what the Opposition wants... If the poor cannot see the biggest dreams, then we are not interested in politics. Our politics is to further your dreams.”

Striking a conversation with the crowd, Rahul asked: “Gareebi ka sabse bada karan kya hai? (What is the main cause of poverty?)” When someone replied “unemployment”, he refuted and said: “Not unemployment but illness.” “In our country, the poor goes to work for two days and then he misses a few days of work because he falls ill and is unable to get proper treatment. But in Rajasthan, they (Congress government) have come up with a great scheme of free medicines and health check-up. We will take this scheme to the rest of the country.” he added.

Taking a dig at the Opposition, Gandhi said, “When we had initially proposed the food security Bill, land acquisition Bill and the NREGA, the Opposition laughed at us and said it was impossible. We have made those proposals a reality.”

Rahul, who was in the area to lay the foundation stone of a river dam project and inaugurate power plants, made a veiled attack on BJP’s Prime Ministerial nominee Narendra Modi by saying: “Anybody can claim I will give this and I will do that,